Landmarks Preservation Commission October 20, 2009, Designation List 420 LP-2321
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Landmarks Preservation Commission October 20, 2009, Designation List 420 LP-2321 HERMAN A. AND MALVINA SCHLEICHER HOUSE 11-41 123rd Street, Queens. Built c. 1857, Morris A. Gescheidt, architect. Landmark Site: Borough of Tax Map Block 3997, lot 40. On February 10, 2009, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing on the proposed designation of the Schleicher House and the related Landmark site (Item No. 1). The public hearing was duly advertised in accordance with the provisions of law. Ten witnesses spoke in favor of designation, including City Councilman Tony Avella, representatives of the Historic Districts Council, the Landmarks Conservancy, the Municipal Art Society, the Poppenhusen Institute, the Queens Historical Society, and two tenants of the building. Prior to the Commission’s vote, the owner spoke in opposition to designation. Summary The Herman A. and Malvina Schleicher House is located in College Point, in north central Queens. It stands on an unusual circular site that was created c. 1906 when the original 14-acre estate was subdivided into building lots and became part of the surrounding street grid. Morris A. Gescheidt, a German-born painter and architect, was responsible for the building’s neo-classical design. Two-and-a-half stories tall, this large red brick house has four visible facades that display elements associated with the Italianate and Second Empire styles, including a mansard roof, segmental arch windows, and quoins. Active in New York City from the late 1840s to the 1860s, Gescheidt also built a factory structure for College Point’s leading citizen, the industrialist Conrad Poppenhusen, in 1854. These developments coincided with the introduction of regular ferry service, resulting in the construction of many residences by German immigrants, particularly in the north section of the village where owners enjoyed views of the East River and Long Island Sound. Two contemporary newspapers commented on Gescheidt’s handsome design; while one writer listed it as among several “elegant residences . under contract” in the area, the Flushing Journal called it “another gem of a residence.” The Schleicher House was originally situated at the west end of a walled compound that incorporated out buildings and landscaped carriage paths. Though relatively little is known about the Schleicher family, census records indicate that Herman had Prussian parents and was a successful merchant, involved in the sale of dry goods, stationary, and coal. He shared the house with his wife Malvina, four children, and three servants. Following his death in 1866, the building was acquired by Kenneth G. White, who owned considerable property in the area and is often identified as an attorney and law clerk. In 1890, the house was sold to developer William K. Aston who leased it to John Jockers, a former Schleicher employee. For about a decade, Jockers operated the structure as the 11-room Grand View Hotel. Divided into apartments in 1923, there are currently seven units in the building. Despite changes, the 1857 Schleicher House has many notable characteristics; not only is it one of the oldest houses in College Point but it is one of the earliest surviving structures in New York City to feature a mansard roof. DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS College Point, Queens1 The Schleicher House was constructed in 1857, during the decade when College Point was transformed from mostly meadows and farmland to a compact village of factories and homes. Located on a peninsula in north central Queens, College Point extends into the East River and adjoins Flushing Bay. It was named for St. Paul’s College, which opened in 1839. Located on the site of present-day MacNeil Park,2 the seminary lasted for less than a decade, closing in 1847. At the time, the area to the south was known as Strattonport and Flammersburg. These neighborhoods were named for businessman Eliphalet Stratton (1745-1831) who purchased 320 acres from descendents of the English merchant and slave owner William Lawrence (1622-1680) in 1789,3 and real estate developer John A. Flammer, who acquired 141 acres from the Stratton estate in 1851 and subdivided the property into 80 building lots. These villages then merged and were incorporated as College Point in 1867 or 1870. Regular ferry service between Manhattan and the village started in the 1850s and plans were soon developed to construct a paved causeway, linking the peninsula to Flushing. These transit improvements attracted a growing number of residents, from several hundred in 1853 to 2,200 in 1860. More than half were foreign born, including nearly a thousand from Germany. The rest were mainly Irish. Because the majority of early residents were originally German, College Point was sometimes referred to as the “Little Heidelberg.” Conrad Poppenhusen, the town’s best-known citizen, was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1813.4 He immigrated to the United States in 1843, forming a partnership with H. C. Meyer in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to produce consumer products from whale bones. When demand declined, he sought new opportunities, acquiring a license from the American inventor Charles Goodyear, who held various patents for the vulcanization of rubber. In July 1853, he toured College Point to inspect “eligible locations” for his new company and in September 1854 laid the cornerstone for the “India Rubber Comb Company,” with at least six hundred people in attendance. Among various attendees were several men who would later be associated with the Schleicher residence: M. Gescheidt, the architect; A. Schleicher, either his father, Arthur, or the owner himself; and of course, the owner of the factory, Poppenhusen – Schleicher’s neighbor and co-executor of his will. Herman A. Schleicher (c. 1827-1866) Relatively little is known about Herman A(lvin) Schleicher. Born in New York City to Prussian immigrants in the late 1820s, documents indicate that during his brief life he lived in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and possibly Long Island. He married Malvina (born Prussia, c. 1830) in the late 1840s or early 1850s and they produced four children: Herman, Julia, Frederick, and Walter.5 Schleicher was a successful merchant who was involved in several areas of business, including the sale of hardware, stationary, and coal. In the 1860s, he was identified as: a partner in Schleicher, Walkinshaw & Co., a local importer of dry goods, a trustee of the Mercantile Insurance Company, a director of the St. Nicholas Bank on Wall Street, and a director of the Germania Fire Insurance Company. Schleicher also served with Poppenhusen on Flushing’s first board of education, starting in 1858, and was listed as one of College Point’s top ten income tax payers in 1866.6 Schleicher died suddenly at the age of 39 in July 1866 and several months later, in November 1866, his dry goods firm consigned a “valuable” collection of European and American paintings to the Leeds Art Galleries in Manhattan.7 Though it can not be confirmed, it seems likely it was Schleicher’s art collection. Irwan Von Auw and Conrad Poppenhusen, both of College Point, served as the executors of his will.8 His funeral took place in Brooklyn and he is buried in a family plot at Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, beside Arthur (d. 1859), Herman (d. 1906), and Waldemar (d. 1922) Schleicher. Morris A. Gescheidt (d. 1871) The Schleicher House was designed by the architect Morris (Moritz) Albert Gescheidt. His name appears on a rendering of the building in the collection of the Poppenhusen Institute, located in College Point. Little is known about Gescheidt, who immigrated to New York in 1837. He was probably born in Dresden and studied at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, starting in 1831. According to the Dictionary of Artists in America, he was active as an “architectural painter” in Rome from 1834 to 1836 and may have been the artist who exhibited “views of two Italian churches” at the National Academy of Design in New York in 1838.9 2 Gescheidt began to practice architecture in the early 1840s, locating his office at 11 Wall Street. He built at least one additional structure in College Point, a 300- by 40-foot brick factory (1854-55) for Conrad Poppenhusen. He may also have designed Poppenhusen’s house (c. 1857, demolished after 1905) which stood within view of the Schleicher House, near 12th Avenue and College Avenue (now College Place), and incorporated similar architectural elements. In 1860-61, Gescheidt built part of a five-story brick warehouse with cast-iron details for Henry J. Meyer at 393 Greenwich Street (part of the Tribeca West Historic District, Manhattan), near N. Moore Street.10 Meyer was the son of H(einrich) C(hristian) Meyer, who employed Poppenhusen at his Williamsburg factory in the 1840s. Gescheidt lived in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on South 3rd Street, and owned property at Castleton, Staten Island, including a “fine mansion house,” which was sold as part of a “mortgage sale” in 1871. Gescheidt died around this time and was listed in various New York State court proceedings in October 1871 as “deceased.”11 The Schleicher Estate In March 1857, Malvina Schleicher acquired 14 acres from Herman A. Funke, a business associate of Conrad Poppenhusen. The land was directly across from Funke’s own residence and adjoined properties owned by Poppenhusen and his son, H. C. Poppenhusen. Located in College Point’s exclusive north section, approximately 100 feet above sea level, residents of the area enjoyed panoramic views and summer breezes. Gescheidt may have been involved in laying out the grounds, which is known from a site plan dating from before 1866 in the collection of the Poppenhusen Institute. The house was sited near the west end of the parcel, near what is now College Point Boulevard, and was formerly known as 13th Avenue.